Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO HELPED BURY THE TRUTH
Arthur Hale answered on the second ring.
Rebecca did not bother greeting him.
“She’s alive.”
Silence.
Then her father said.
“That’s impossible.”
“I saw her.”
“You saw someone who resembles her.”
“No.”
Rebecca’s voice shook.
“Her wrist.”
“The scar from the wineglass.”
Arthur went quiet.
Rebecca continued.
“She looked at me like she remembered.”
“Where is she?”
“Bennett headquarters.”
“Name?”
“Anna Mercer.”
Arthur swore under his breath.
Rebecca lowered her voice.
“She controls the Mercer Foundation.”
Arthur understood immediately.
That made Claire more dangerous than before.
Two years earlier, Arthur Hale had served as Bennett Global’s chief legal officer.
He had also been deeply in debt.
Claire Bennett discovered he was quietly moving company money through shell corporations.
She planned to tell Grant.
Rebecca learned about it.
Arthur expected his daughter to help him escape.
Instead, Rebecca saw an opportunity.
If Claire disappeared, Arthur’s theft remained hidden.
And Rebecca could finally have Grant.
Arthur had modified the brake line.
Rebecca had returned Claire’s garage key.
Neither expected Lily to be in the car.
Neither expected Lily to survive.
And neither expected Claire to crawl out of the ravine.
“We need to know what she remembers,” Arthur said.
“She remembers enough to scare me.”
“Then control Grant.”
“He’s already turning against me.”
Arthur paused.
“What about the child?”
Rebecca looked toward the office window.
“Lily is talking.”
“Then make sure no one believes her.”
That evening, Grant returned home early again.
He found Lily drawing at the kitchen table.
The picture showed three women.
One was Evelyn.
One was Lily.
The third stood beneath a yellow sun.
Grant pointed to her.
“Who is that?”
“Mommy.”
His chest tightened.
Claire’s hair in Lily’s drawing was dark.
Her dress was red.
Exactly like the dress Claire had worn on Lily’s fifth birthday.
Grant had forgotten.
Lily had not.
He sat beside her.
“Do you remember her face?”
Lily nodded.
“Sometimes.”
“Would you know her if she looked different?”
Lily considered it seriously.
Then she said.
“I’d know her voice.”
Grant’s heart hurt.
“Why?”
“She sang my song.”
“What song?”
Lily whispered.
“The moon one.”
Grant froze.
Claire had invented that lullaby herself.
No recording existed.
No one else knew every word.
Across town, Anna stood by her hotel window.
Without understanding why, she began humming.
Michael looked up from his laptop.
“What is that?”
Anna stopped.
“I don’t know.”
Then the words came.
“Little moon, don’t hide tonight.”
“Stay above my window bright.”
Anna pressed a hand over her mouth.
Images exploded through her mind.
A nursery.
A tiny child beneath pink blankets.
Grant leaning in the doorway.
Claire singing.
Anna began sobbing.
“My daughter.”
Michael stood.
Anna turned toward him.
“I remember her.”
At the mansion, Lily suddenly lifted her head.
Evelyn looked over.
“What is it?”
Lily stared toward the dark window.
May you like
For reasons she could not explain, she whispered.
“Mommy’s coming.”
